New Kitchen, time to start experimenting again.
Gluten free, mostly organic and british.
Plus now the Allotment too !

Sunday, 16 November 2008

Cheese biscuits and a delated Halloween post

I've been meaning to blog the cooking we did for Halloween but keep failing so thought I really should get on with it.

Noddles and I had great fun making silly food for our party at which most of the guests were under 5 or adult !

These included shrunken heads in fruit punch made from carved and dried out apple halves. They didn't fully dry out and in fact went very soft and pulpy in the middles but still looked great.

We also did monster cakes and spider cakes, witches brooms which were twiglets tied to breadsticks, some cheese biscuits in various Halloween shapes, eyeballs (cheese stuffed baby tomatoes) devil eggs (egg halves with the yolk mashed with a bit of spice and topped with pepper horns) and others brought cakes too which meant we had loads left.

All in all it was great fun and we had pumpkins, both mini real ones and paper lantern ones to decorate with as well as a silly 'brain' in green liquid and lots of plastic spiders and bugs everywhere.

The cheese biscuits went down very well and I've done them again since so thought I'd put the recipe here.

2oz gram (chickpea) flour2oz general Gluten free flour mix1 tsp Xathan gumYou can vary this a bit but don't do too much more gram flour or it gets too strong but I do find gram flour and cheese go well together.

8oz grated cheese (I use cheddar or a mix of cheddar and Cheshire or Wensleydale)3 oz butter1/2 tsp salt1 egg beatenpinch of cayenne pepper and twist or two of black pepper

optional toppings of cayenne, poppy seeds or similar-----------Pre-heat the oven to 190C (375F)

------------Sift flours, xanthan gum, salt into a bow and add cayenne and black pepper.Add the cheese and butter and rub between your fingers till the butter and flour is combined and crumbly then add the egg and bring together.. you can also skip the egg and add an extra oz of butter (which is how the recipe was in the book) but I find that just a bit too buttery for me.

Flour surface and rolling pin and roll out thinly. It is quite a soft dough so make sure you keep everything well floured or it sticks. Cut out biscuits, these can be quite small as they are very rich. Arrange on a baking tray, they don't spread much so can be quite close together but not touching. Brush with milk and top with cayenne pepper or poppy seeds if wished.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 mins if necessary turn or swap shelves after about 6 mins. I tend to do two trays at a time so swap them around to even the cooking.. Cool on a wire rack and if any survive long enough store in an airtight tin.

GK Chesterton: “The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

Voila: www.tastingtoeternity.com. This book is a poetic view of 30 of the best loved French cheeses with an additional two odes to cheese. Recipes, wine pairing, three short stories and an educational section complete the book.

From a hectic life in New York City to the peace and glories of the French countryside lead me to be the co-founder of www.fromages.com. Ten years later with the words of Pierre Androuet hammering on my brain:

“Cheese is the soul of the soil. It is the purest and most romantic link between humans and the earth.”

I took pen and paper; many reams later with the midnight oil burning Tasting to Eternity was born and self published.

I believe cheese and wine lovers should be told about this publication.